Schlussfolgerung:

Schlüsselworte:

Demenz Sterben Angehörige Lebensende Lebensqualität Tanatologie

Dying of people with dementia from the perspective of care-giving relatives – a literature investigation

Summary

Background:

During the next years and decades, there will be a considerably growing proportion of people with
dementia within the population. Bickel (2000) assesses the number of people with dementia at 2.620.000 in 2050.
The needs of dying people with dementia can only be dealt with adequately by using certain insights.

Objective:

The present survey article aims at clarifying the need for investigation regarding the questions: How do
people with dementia experience their dying? Are people with dementia aware of their dying? Which peculiarities
does the dying of demented people show?

Material and method:

For this aim, a systematic literary research, which lead to an analysis of eight academic
articles, was conducted. The articles demonstrated the perspectives of nursing relatives and professional nurses
with respect to the last phase of life and with respect to the dying of demented people in diverse situations.
This article is divided into background, objective, material and
method, outcomes of articles analyzed, discussion and further
need for investigation and list of literature, figures and tables.

Outcomes:

The present article could approach an answer to the
following question: How do relatives and professional carers perceive
the last phase in the lives of demented people and their dying
in diverse situations? Finally, not a single investigation was found
to answer the questions mentioned above – neither in Australia,
nor in the USA, nor in Europe.

Sampson E. A systematic review of the scientific evidence for the efficacy of a palliative care approach in advanced dementia. In: International Psychogeriatrics, 2005; 17: 31–40PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar

Van der Steen J, Gihsberts M, Muller, Martien, Deliens, Volicer L. Evaluations of end of life with dementia by familiies in Dutch and U.S. nursing homes. In: International psychogeriatrics 2009:1–9Google Scholar